Pakistan blocks China’s TikTok after complaint over ‘indecent content’

Name: Pakistan bans TikTok over ‘immoral and indecent’ videos
Uploaded: 2021-03-11T22:00:13.000Z
Duration: 1 min 41 s
Description: Pakistan bans TikTok over ‘immoral and indecent’ videos

A previous ban in October was lifted within 10 days after the company vowed to block all accounts involved in spreading ‘obscenity and immorality’

TikTok is one of the most-downloaded apps in Pakistan behind WhatsApp and Facebook.

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TikTok has been mired in controversy in a number of countries, with authorities raising privacy concerns and security fears due to its links with China. Photo: AP

Reuters

Published: 6:00am, 12 Mar 2021Updated: 6:00am, 12 Mar 2021

Pakistan on Thursday blocked the popular social media app TikTok after a court order over a complaint that it ran indecent content, a spokesman for the country’s telecoms regulator said.

“The court has asked PTA to block access to TikTok,” Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) spokesman Khurram Mehran said, adding that the authority would comply with the order.

A high court in the northwestern city of Peshawar said it ordered the ban after a private complainant said the social media app was spreading indecent content, said Jehanzeb Mehsud, a lawyer who represented the PTA.

The service providers have been directed to immediately block access to TikTok, the regulator said in a statement.

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Pakistan bans TikTok over ‘immoral and indecent’ videos

The app stopped working within an hour of the direction.

A TikTok representative in Pakistan said strong safeguards were in place to keep inappropriate content off the platform.